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432 RECENT TIMES.
nature in the act of birth, and to more humane views as to
the part allotted to the accoucheurs' art. The introduction
of regular teaching in obstetrics at the university,
and the increase in the number of lying-in institutions
were conspicuous among the causes which brought about'
this beneficent reform. Besides the theoretical lectures
upon midwifery which at most universities were held in
connection with those on surgery a commencement .was
made in the practical instruction of students. In this,
Strassburg was in advance of all other German Universities:
in 1728, a school for obstetricians was founded in the Lying- f
in Institution there which had already for a considerable
time been made use of for the instruction of midwives*
It was under the direction of FRIED and, as OsiANDER says, >;
was the parent of all other institutions of this kind in
Germany. The pupils practised the manipulations of mid-.,, 5
wifery in the first instance upon a model, then visited *
women in pregnancy and superintended the labours. The
fee which they had to pay their teacher for this course of instruction
was somewhat high : it came to about 100 thalers..
Several of the best obstetric physicians of last century proceeded
from this school; among these was J. G. ROEDERER
who, in 1751, was summoned to Gottingen as Professor of
Midwifery and Director of the recently founded Lying-in
Institution. A school of midwifery was at the same time
opened at the Berlin Charite. In 1786, there were in the
Kingdom of Prussia, without the province of Silesia, as
many as 14 teachers of this branch. So also in other
German countries institutions of a similar kind arose and
at them midwives and students received instruction in
obstetrics, for example at Wiirzburg (1739), Copenhagen
(1760), Cassel (1763), Brunswick (1768), Karlsruhe, Dresden
(1774), Jena (1781), Marburg (1792), Detmold, Mann*
heim, Weimar, Bern (1782), etc.
At Vienna the instruction of midwives was introduced in
1748, and in 1754 a professorship of midwifery was founded;
* WIEGER op. cit. S. 100 et seq. j